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ANTI CLIMAX, its use and abuse
ANTI-CLIMAX ANTI CLIMAX, its use and abuse is something the plotter must guard against. Anti-climax is a self-defining word, in a sense, as being some-' thing that is against the climax and in its broader phases may be very simply exemplified. You board a battleship and see them handling the big guns. You do not know that it is sub-calibre practice. The order is given to fire.- You prepare for a shock and hear only the report of the small cartridge. You have prepared to have your ears assailed by the greater noise. The light report is anti-climactic. On the stage the comedian enters, dragging a huge rope. There is a tremendous noise of stamping and shouting from the wings. Suddenly the rope dwindles to a cord and a tiny dog is dragged in. You were expecting something the size of an elephant. The most deadly form of anti-climax is that which follows a fairly strong situation with a weaker one, producing the effect of bathos. Bathos in anti-climax is one of the main reliances of comedy in producing the humorous effect, but it is fatal in any other form of drama. Naturally the first test of any situation, to determine if it is anti-climactic, is to determine if it agrees with the spirit and action of the story as a whole. Whatever is inconsistent is in some degree anti-climactic. Thus, a situation that arouses the deep tragic emotions is inconsistent with a comedy purpose, and therefore results in anti-climax. On the other hand, an abrupt let-down from tragedy or drama to comedy level results in anti-climax. Evidently a great deal of the effect actually produced depends on the management pf the incident, not on its nature. A director can turn a well-planned incident into anti-climax, just as he can sometimes save a poorly-planned situation from falling into bathos. Indifferent acting can spoil a situation in the same way—by failing to appreciate its true significance in the larger action, and reducing it to anti-climax. Anyone who has seen Warfield in "The Auctioneer" will understand how his acting not only preserves situations from being comical, but out of their comic elements brings forth a greater pathos. 5. The next test for anti-climax is significance. The scene and situation must mean something, and mean it unmistakably in connection with the principal action. There isn't any use of showing Sister Susie sewing shirts for soldiers in a play concerning American labor, but there may be in showing her sewing shirts as a sweat-shop job. Another reason why scenes give the impression of anti-climax is that their connection with the play as a whole is not made clear. Yet another is that the connection itself is remote ; it may exist, but it is not essential. All this means, frequently, merely that the idea is not made clear. Sometimes it is too remote to be made clear without excessive explanation ; so that proportion and emphasis and direct advance have to be sacrificed unless the idea is left obscure. Sometimes, on the other hand, the idea is good, but its connection with the rest of the play is not clear. To illustrate : Suppose Susie sewing shirts comes near to the close of a play in which Susie has passed through tempestuous experiences, the idea being .that the turmoil is gone and peace is hers. If, without explanation, we see Susie thus occupied, we are more than likely to be puzzled. But a leader will avoid this anti-climactic effect by making the connection clear : "Peace after turmoil," or an equivalent, would make it plain. In brief, incidents and situations may be anti-climaxes because they are inconsistent with the atmosphere or action of the play as a whole ; because they have no real significance in the play ; because their connection with the general action is not made clear, or because the connection is so remote that it cannot be shown without sacrifice of more important action or of other important elements of interest. 6. In other words, anything that militates against the climax, which is the resolution of the plot, is anti-climactic and works against the plot. It may be extraneous matter or it may be a sudden twist. Professor Neal challenges our own contention that anti-climax may also be a scene prior to the climax and of greater visual interest, but he writes more from the fiction than the photoplay technique. It is entirely possible in photoplay to kill the climax with a scene before that climax, since in photoplay we deal with pictures and not with words. This, we contend, is also anti-climactic in that it also opposes the climax. A preceding scene may be shown in such effective picture that when the climax does come it seems tame in comparison and there is a sense of disappointment ax the letting down in the action. This form of anti-climax is more apt to come from the direction than from the writing of the play, but it should be remembered that a sequence of action that will overshadow to a marked degree the visualappeal of the climax must necessarily militate against that dim In theory nothing can be more important to story than idea, and in truth it is idea that mustgive real importance to the story and therefore to the climax of that story, but it is possible, in picture, to dwari the indicated climax by previous action, obtaining a reaction through contrast. Suppose that you have a story of a railroad engineer. He is about to marry the usual beautiful young girl. There comes a, strike. He promises her that he will commit no act of violence. He keeps his word, but events so shape themselves that when the strike is over he is supposed by the officials of the road to have been guilty of planning and directing most of these acts of reprisal. They refuse to reinstate him, but something happens to prove his innocence and he is taken back. This proof, whatever it may be, is the climax to the story, but proof may be obtained in a manner so quiet, as con- trasted with the burning bridges, dynamited freight stations and wrecked trains that the spectator, his mind tuned to heavier action, feels a sense of disappointment at the lack of vivid action here. The mechanical appeal of the havoc overshadows the more quiet appeal of the real story. This •is but another way of saying that each succeeding crisis should be of greater importance than the preceding ones, but the fact remains that a greater visual action may dwarf a lesser if shown before. In a word, do not overload your action with mechanical effect to the prejudice of your climax.